The ZhuangJia BuBing LÜDai 04A (ZBD04A式步兵战车), with an industry code WZ502G, is one of the main composition of modern time PLAGF heavy composite mechanized brigades and the most advanced IFV for the army. As part of the military modernization program since 1990s, PLAGF, which had only started the deployment of ZBD86 as their designated IFV on early 1990s, purchased the 2K23 turret system from Rostec after their evaluations on the BMP-3 with negative impression mostly on the hull ergonomics; the new turret system and the designated chassis under the name ZBD97 (WZ502) was developed since 1997 all the way to 2003 and commissioned as the ZBD04 as the new generation PLAGF IFV. Likely due to new stages of military modernization called for revisions on IFV design philosophy, the new IFV adopted a NATO-alike hull design while retaining identical turret system from ZBD04, upgraded protection, mobility and state-of-the-art FCS for the new IFV, leading to the introduction of ZBD04A which has been spotted since 2011.

As the very first dedicated autocannon IFV introduced to Chinese tech tree in Update "Alpha Strike", ZBD04A puts the full-stop of the embarrassing situation where both PLAGF and ROCA couldn't offer any IFV with autocannon; with the superior FCS, mobility for its size and wide variety of domestic/licensed ammunition based on the BMP-3, ZBD04A can be a fearsome flanker with its autocannon or supporting vehicle for the advancing allies - the vehicle will not disappoint players with its new capabilities, be sure to find a large enough object to be your cover in dire situations due to its rather huge size.

If ZBD04 can be said as the Chinese interpterion of BMP-3 for better crew ergonomics (which was the deal-breaker of BMP-3 with its unique, narrow hatches), ZBD04A is the total departure of Warsaw-Pact/Russian designs with a much larger hull while retaining similar turret from ZBD04. To fit new powerpack which is part of the fruit of ZTZ99A (WZ1001) program, as well as fulfilling the protection requirements from PLAGF, ZBD04A enlarged the engine bay while revising the construction angles of the hull. The vehicle is constructed with RHA armor and covered by either composite plates (by LFP, four blocks) or harden steel plates (on the sides and front of turret), while the turret is constructed with aluminum alloy instead; oddly enough, the aluminum alloy shares identical protection coefficient to conventional RHA armor. To put the front protection in short words: anything below 25 mm caliber and without subcaliber shell is fruitless. The side can also withstand up to .50 cal bullets, thus the overall survivability is quite well for such a huge IFV.

The crew of 3 has similar layout to NATO IFVs - instead of having all crews close to the centerline like BMP series, the driver is placed on the far left of the hull while the remaining two are in the turret (gunner on left, commander on right); while the protection is very sufficient to extend the crew's service, but once penetrated, if the crew are not disabled by higher caliber kinetic shells, hitting the carousel below the turret crews will also turn ZBD04A into a Shenzhou rocket with its turret flying sky high, let alone if the vehicle is at full-load (up to 48 projectiles and 500 30 mm shells), it's always better not being hit at all.

Armour type:

20 mm +30 mm (43°) LFP

Notes:

To further increase the mobility of ZBD04A to keep up with MBTs, NORINCO installed new power pack consists of new version of 6V150 (same name as the one on ZBD86 but based on 12V150HB on ZTZ99 series) and CH400D transmission; enabling the vehicle to quickly reach vantage points or flanking enemies with its mobility, as well as retreat from danger much faster than BMP-1 variants.

As part of the main component of ZBD04 series, China acquired the 2K23 turret system from Russia in the 1990s as the mean to quickly enhance the overall firepower of PLAGF IFVs. Both Chinese and Russian systems use identical weapons aside from the coaxial machine gun; in Chinese's case, NORINCO also developed a new autoloader for the onboard missiles thus enabling vastly higher rate of fire than BMP-3 to the equivalent of BMD-4. The ZPL02 (ZPZ02) also carries APFSDS which is lacking on any vehicles with 2A72 autocannon, making flanking much easier thanks to the high penetration.

Part of the composition of 2K23 system is the iconic 100 mm smoothbore, low-recoil cannon as the main weapon to demolish enemy positions or taking out enemy tanks with ATGM; in this case, PLAGF neither introduce the better 9M117M1 nor developed domestic alternative of such missile, thus affecting the odds to disable enemy MBTs with ERA or composite protection with one shot.

Like most PLAGF vehicles post-2010, instead of more conventional 7.62x39 mm caliber, ZBD04A adapted the QJT with 5.8x42 mm caliber; while it might sound nowhere threating to armored vehicles, this is not the case for exposed crews.

If players have certain extent of knowledge of the ZBD04 series, the original design of ZBD04 is similar to BMP-3; but on the improved ZBD04A, ditching some features for more reliable protection becomes the key for ZBD04A, thus leading to the IFV with superior performance to many of its enemies and now the best friend of PLAGF's MBT columns within their heavy composite brigades.

To say anything about ZBD04A's capabilities, players have to consider for one thing first at all - its role as an IFV. ZBD04A was designed as an IFV from day one, thus thinking of using it as a frontline vehicle means the shortest possible service life of the vehicle. Although the vehicle was designed to stop up to 30 mm caliber shells, facing MBTs or LTs with high caliber cannons is never the best idea to ever consider; taking it as a support vehicle vehicle is always the idea as it doesn't have the side protection like PUMA in Bundeswehr's service. Thanks to the revision of hull design, ZBD04A can stop up to 30 mm full-caliber shells from certain distance up front; this also means better survivability for the crew albeit only having 3 crews in this case, the overall design is much larger than its previous designs or Russian designs, thus migrates some damages from shrapnel is also possible but never take it as granted. The redesigned hull on ZBD04A also further enlarges the profile of the vehicle, thus enemy can spot the existence of the vehicle relative fast in this case; in this case, the hull itself is almost the height of a M1A2 Abrams from side-by-side comparison!

Now the flaws have been addressed, it is the time to introduce the features of ZBD04A: firstly, the improved FCS over BMP-3 series and among one of the best in game thanks to its late introduction by 2011; then the fairly mobility to navigate around the battlefield, after that the impressive protection thanks to the applique armor plates and lastly, the turret system with improved ammunitions. Having a 3rd generation TVD is pretty hard to come by at its tier, let alone CITV system with same TVD definition; if players are having problem seeking for the hiding enemies in complicated terrain, the TVD is certainly the best friend to players, it is always better to find the enemy first then plan to finish them off, instead of CQC which can be extra risky for IFVs; thanks to the improved powerplant developed as part of the WZ123 program, ZBD04A also utilized better domestic engine and dual-flow transmission for its overall mobility, as long as players are aware of their position and where they should be to intercept enemy vanguards, both IFVs or fast MBTs, utilizing the mobility of ZBD04A can often gain players early victories against such targets with a somewhat impressive protection up front - if the enemy didn't destroy the vehicle in one-go or the turret system, chances are ZBD04A can achieve revenge kills against those which almost sent the vehicle back to the hanger. After that, the turret system - it is well known that PLAGF adopted the 2K23 turret system as their IFV firepower, in this case, ZBD04A shares most of the ammunition from its Russian counterpart minus the better ATGM but now has access to APFSDS; this can be said as a game-changer for the vehicle as this enables the 2A72 equivalent (as ZPL02/ZPZ02) with full APDS or APFSDS belt against enemy vehicles, this also further enhance the odds to disable enemies from sides; although lacking more advanced ATGM, the APS03-100 is more than enough to take down most MBTs around its tier with its tandem warhead or sometimes even by overpressure, be sure to aim carefully for long-distance target and sometimes lower the DPI for best result.

Taking ZBD04A as an assault vehicle is a viable option thanks to its sufficient protection and good firepower, but always be extra cautious on enemy vehicles - there are always vehicles that opted to go for the same vantage point or flanking from the sides, thus players have to always turn their hull against any possible targets to minimize the risk of one-hit kill for the enemy; making surprise attacks on them is always the best idea to handle the enemies as they will not have the reaction time to fight back, especially with APDS/APFSDS belt. To make sure the best efficiency against enemy vehicles, some of the tactics will be shown below:

Overall, as an excellent flanker for the Chinese tech tree and the introduction of a non-premium IFV for the tree, ZBD04A let players enjoy the features of their counterparts with now more advanced FCS and better autocannon options; it will be a good idea to learn for flranking, interception or sneak attacks against enemy targets, thus ensuring the victory of the team.

Pros:

Cons:

For almost 4 decades since the establishment of the People's Republic, the military has yet to have any IFVs even though being observant to the Cold War changes; but thanks to the military trades since economic reform with Egypt, PLAGF eventually acquired examples of BMP-1 and reverse-engineered ZBD86. By the time ZBD86 was introduced in late-1980s, PLAGF attempted to further modernize the already obsolete chassis with NATO equipment, but incidents of the era and the unreliable subsystems of ZBD86 stalled the overall development of IFV. While NORINCO were still developing their BMP-2 equivalent as the ZBD86-I with a 25 mm ZPT90 turret (the more well-known ZBD86A was yet to be developed until circa 2003), PLAGF's modernization also called for new IFVs for the future battlefields; with domestic alternatives still under development, their laid their eyes onto the successor of the long-gone Red Giant, Russia.

By 1993, Boris Yeltsin's new economic "therapy" has negative impacts to Russia, which also called for exports of Russian equipment as means to earn foreign exchange; Mainland China has already acquired divisions of Su-27SK and now seek for the more advanced Russian equipment as the basis to improve PLA's overall combat capabilities, leading to the Project 934 - a "private" military exhibition at Beijing Nanyuan Airport. To conclude the project, it can be said that the project became a treasure box for almost all PLA branches with new equipment ranging from field air-defense systems, Project 956E DDGs, Su-30MKK, modernized artillery systems and namely, the interest on BMP-3. As the escalation of cross-strait conflicts after the election of new leaderships at Taiwan, to upgrade amphibious units which at the time has no IFV for landing supports, as well as serving as makeshift anti-tank vehicle against the M60A3 TTS and CM-11 fleet in ROCA, PLAGF officials approached Rostec with the interest on the BMP-3 with the best overall firepower among IFVs of the era and waterjet propulsion; although the introduction of BMP-3 was still a viable option, but engineers and officials found a major flaw which became the deal-breaker of the introduction of BMP-3: its unique, two-piece crew hatch which requires infantry to climb then aboard from the vehicle. But the introduction of 2K22 turret system was deemed more reliable, thus the system was introduced while NORINCO would install it onto newly-developed chassis under the code WZ502; an early prototype, ZBD97 was developed in 1997 and has been kept revising until its certification in December 2003 as the ZBD04, marking the completion of Chinese interpterion of BMP-3 and new IFVs for mechanized infantry brigades.

To address a missing piece of ZBD04 - its protection, PLA issued the demand for a new IFV that retains identical turret system while vastly improving its protection. The weight and protection of the original ZBD04 also eliminated the options of applique armor or ERA packages, thus leading to the complete redesign of new IFV with a larger chassis while upgrading the protection rated for 30 mm autocannons at certain distance; amphibious capabilities was also retained but only rated for inland water bodies and rivers as the waterjet system was removed. The new IFV was first spotted in 2008 as "ZBD08" until the official statement issued in 2014's "Peace Mission 2014" exercise unrevealed the new IFV as ZBD04A.

The ZBD-04 which has a fighting compartment from the Russian BMP-3 was developed in China in the late 1990s and began entering service in the early 2000s. The next model of this vehicle was the modernized ZBD-04A, featuring additional armor and improved electronics. This vehicle was first presented to the general public at a parade in 2015. Today, the ZBD-04A is in service with units and is the most modern vehicle of this class in the People's Liberation Army of China.

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